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Phymateus leprosus

A close relative of the Green Milkweed Locust, the Leprous Grasshopper is equally adept at making my skin crawl, especially the adults. These large and scary locusts have a wide habitat tolerance, occuring from the dry Great Karoo to the mesic east coast and into the Lowveld. Their gregarious nymphs congregate and move in colourful clusters, advertising their poisonous nature by their bold colouration. Indeed, so poisonous are these grasshoppers that human fatalities from ingesting them has been recorded. This toxicity stem from their preferred foodplants from the milkweed family, though they can be a pest in young citrus trees as well. For an insect, Leprous Grasshoppers have a long lifecycle and are slow-growing; eggs may take 6 months to hatch after which it takes a year for the nymphs to develop to adulthood. The adults may live for up to 8 months.

Leprous Grasshopper

Leprous Grasshopper nymphs

Leprous Grasshopper nymph

Leprous Grasshopper nymphs

Leprous Grasshoppers

Leprous Grasshopper

Phymateus viridipes

The Green Milkweed Locust, or African Bush Grasshopper, is a large – up to 9cm long – poisonous locust that can congregate in enormous numbers (as we experienced on Sunday at the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden, apparently an annual occurrence there in September and October), and may migrate over great distances, flying strong and high. They feed on toxic plants and are rather sluggish on the ground, preferring to stay in trees and bushes and flying between them. When feeling threatened they will raise and rustle their wings and exude a noxious foam (poisonous if ingested) from their bodies as defense. Eggs are laid in the ground and the nymphs (also called “hoppers”) are highly gregarious, moving around in tight clusters until they are almost fully grown.

And yes, they scare me. Terribly.